Biodegradable hubcaps

Resin, hemp, pigment

Edition of 5

24 x 7 cm (4 pieces)

2004

Content

Thousands of Volkswagen taxis drive around Mexico City with a sign that says 'Sin Plombo' or 'Unleaded'. But the taxistas cannot afford the more expensive unleaded fuel so they ironically drive with normal gasoline. Ives Maes invented yellow biodegradable hubcaps as an ecological ornament for the taxistas to honor them for all their so-called environmental efforts. Five taxis drove with these hubcaps between the locations of the exhibition. A sticker on the door said that it was an environment friendly taxi because it drove with biodegradable hubcaps.

PROJECT

With his RECYCLABLE REFUGEE CAMP project, Ives Maes probed the derailment of contemporary hyper-ethics. His latrines, wells, shelters and coffins, fabricated in a natural resin, raise ethics to a manic state. The Recyclable Refugee Camp tackles the ethical imperative that encourages art to intervene in the world, localizing the epicenter of a new utopia inside the boundaries of the art world itself.

Excerpt from the text ‘An economy of truth’ by Wim Peeters, published in Flash Art nr. 235, 2004